here is a long entry about our adventures out of madagascar!
November 6, 2007
Wow, it has been two weeks since my last entry for the Madagascar journal. We have been very active for the last two weeks as we just resumed our teaching yesterday. To describe the past two weeks is pretty impossible because we have done so many things. But I can try to give you a glimpse of what we have done in that period of time here.
On October 24, Susie and I went for a flight to Dubai via Mauritius. While we had a 6 hour layover in Mauritius, we were awarded with one-day visa so we could get fresh air of Mauritius’ beaches and ocean. But we were disappointed that the nearest town is like perhaps 15 km away. So we just basically hung out around the airport. Just a couple of hours away from our departure flight, we bumped into a deaf Italian couple who had stayed in Mauritius for a week. They elaborated on how nice Mauritius was and also explained what they have done in Dubai before they came to Mauritius. It was nice to interact with them in a different language instead of Malagasy or American as Susie and I were kinda sick of each other. After getting on the red-eye flight to Dubai on Emirate Airline’s 777 model plane, I was impressed with the plane’s interior as well as Emirate’s flight attendants’ sultry outfits. There is something exotic about them. After arriving in Dubai in the early morning, we went to our villa in Jumierah Island which is a man-made island with recent new development around. Once we got to our villa, we had to wait for like almost an hour because everyone was practically asleep and we couldn’t get a hold of our villa leader, Himel. But we got to find Ahmed and he helped us and we moved to another villa due to some lame reasons, and we were greeted by many familiar faces - Warren Smith, Oliver Westbury, JC, Yolanda, and Gilles. We met our new villa mates - Toby, Emma, and Alan. I’ve heard about Toby from a friend - CK whom she hung out often while in London. We had to sign in BSL as many of them came from England (JC, Yolanda, and Gilles are exception as they’re from Belgium) Now, the reason we came to Dubai was to attend Ahmed and Melly’s wedding celebration and that was next day so Susie had to do some last minute shopping while I just basically joined the villa gang to the Wild Wadi Water Park where I met many new faces as well as old faces, too. Ahmed and Melly’s Arabic Adventure celebration was something very memorable as we took a 4×4 ride to the destination which is in middle of nowhere in the sandy desert (full of dunes everywhere!) in the early evening. We were greeted by Ahmed and Melly at the entrance. In the middle of the courtyard was a Hookah spot where everyone could just lie down on the pillow and smoke some flavored tobaccos like the Arabians do. Also there was many delicious Arabian buffet as well as dessert. Even they provided henna paintings for the guests, too. It was definitely a tear-off page from the book, “1001 Tales of Arabian Nights.” Also, we all had to wear our Arabian outfits for this celebration. When our 4×4 were ready to pick us up at 1 AM, we were disappointed to leave the spot because it was so relaxing and wish we could sleep overnight there. The rest of the week is up to your imagination as basically, we’d drink and interact during the evenings until 4 am or later and get up by noon to do some sightseeing or errands and then the same thing goes on until the wedding week came to an end. As results of this, we came with new friends and got to know Arabian culture well and see what Dubai is all about. Dubai is very much like Las Vegas - built up from nothing but sand! I was surprised to know that Dubai is only 30 years old!
After the wild week in Dubai, we took off to Mauritius to revitalize ourselves - especially catching up our sleep and basically do nothing! Also, we rented a scooter which was first time for Susie to ride with me and we did enjoy it very much for two days riding and sightseeing around Mauritius. I’m just glad that I didn’t get to hike or walk that long because that would have knocked me out. Instead, I just basically sat or laid down often! Also, we’d beef ourselves up because the hotel package that we paid included free breakfast and dinner daily! (most of them were in buffet-style) I found that the southern side of Mauritius to be more charming and interesting than the northern side which is full of commercialism and glitzy. The only side that we haven’t gone to is the eastern side due to insufficient time. We could tell that we’ve been spoiling ourselves while in Dubai and Mauritius for that we’ve been missing our comfort food and accommodation. As we were about to depart for Madagascar, Susie’s mood has completely changed 180 degrees around! She has been pouty lately. Hope she’ll settle down soon.
Now, my mission is accomplished as I have tried my best to sum up those two weeks with this journal. I know that there is a few things that I’ve missed out but I’ll leave the journal the way it is because I just never believe in proofreading. Now time for me to clean up my Dubai/Mauritius pictures even though I was disappointed that I didn’t get to take many pictures as I would have liked to!